Slots
Winning Slot Machines - The call of the spin, the joy of cha-ching! I'm
here to teach you all about your favorite gambling game, the one armed
bandits. Today, slots are without a doubt gambling's most consistent money-maker.
No other gambling device has produced such profits with little effort
on the part of the gambler. Thirty years ago slot machines shoed a combined
gross payout of about $300 million, compared to about $430 million garnered
from table games. That means that craps, blackjack, roulette, baccarat
and the others totaled together paid little more than one armed bandits
alone.

About 40% of casino's revenues come from the bandits. Currently there
are 5 US states that permit legal one armed operations, with a total of
over 40,000 machines spread throughout. The highest concentration is still
believed to be found at Harrah's luxury casino in Reno, which houses over
1,500 under one roof. The state of Maryland also allows the fruit boxes
for certain uses, along with Idaho, Montana, and Washington. Many though
only allow them in privately run clubs.
As the first gambling device that mechanically accepts and disseminates
wins and losses without making mistakes, popularity has been driven away
from games which rely on face to face competition or dealer/player rivalry.
This is not insignificant, as it reflects an American way of life, moving
away from face to face, and towards electronically presented entertainment.

The details of the slot machines we're discussing are necessary knowledge
for anyone who wants to make this an important part of their day. Essential,
a cabinet housing contains three or more narrow cylindrical drums, commonly
called reels, which are marked with symbols. Vertically disposed on a
common axis, the reels are caused to revolve freely when a player activates
the machine and pulls a lever-like handle attached to the side of the
cabinet. Payoffs are handled instantly, based on the horizontal alignment
of symbols after the reels come to rest.

Nickel and quarter slot machines are by far the most popular, and account
for about 85% of reel action in any given year. This popularity is followed
by the dime boxes, then half dollar and silver dollar slot machines. You
can now find machines that accept $5 bills, and some rather large progressive
jackpot machines that take $100 bills!

The modern, deluxe, single coin one armed bandits with a nice shiny chromium
finish can run you as much as $1,700 to own for yourself. But even if
you're thinking of dropping that coin, check and make sure its legal to
own a slot machine in the state or country you live in.

A long standing record of $65,093 was won in one slots pull on a one dollar
progressive at Harold's Club in Reno in 1973. Quite recently (in 2001)
a woman won over $1,000,000 in an Ontario, Canada Casino. It's worth noting
the machine was a progressive that was $100 a pull.